Submission Instructions

Starting this year, the Best Illusion of the YearSM Contest will bring the creativity of the illusion creator community all around the world. To accomplish this, the Contest will become an annual online event, in which anybody with an internet connection can participate! No matter where you live, you can participate as a contestant, and/or vote for the Top 3 winners yourself!

Contestants are invited to submit 1-minute videos featuring novel illusions (unpublished, or published no earlier than 2014) of all sensory modalities (visual, auditory, etc.), in mp4 format. The content of the 1-minute video presenting your illusion is solely up to you, and the only requirement is that it wows all viewers! Some examples include, but are not limited to, a:

Slide presentation, or succession of images, with a voice over (or written text, if you prefer)

Video of yourself describing your illusion

Video of your illusion, expressed in interpretative dance (just kidding –or not–, but you get the idea!)

An international panel of impartial judges will rate all the videos and narrow them down to the Top 10. Then, online voters around the world will choose their favorite illusions from the Top 10 finalists. All Top 10 finalists will receive a commemorative plaque. In addition, the Top 3 winners will receive cash prizes: $3,000 for first place; $2,000 for second place, and $1,000 for third place.
The Judge Panel will rate illusions according to:

Significance to our understanding of the human mind and brain

Simplicity of the description

Sheer beauty

Counterintuitive quality

Spectacularity

Submissions will be held in strict confidence by the Judge Panel and the authors/creators will retain copyright of their works. The Top 10 illusions will be posted online to allow worldwide voting. As with submitting your work to any conference, participating in the Best Illusion of the Year SM Contest does not preclude you from also submitting your work for publication elsewhere. Illusions submitted to previous editions of the contest can be re-submitted to the 2015 contest, as long as they meet the above requirements and were not among the Top 3 winners in previous years.